


Dancing About Architecture

by voleuse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-04-26
Updated: 2004-04-26
Packaged: 2017-10-08 17:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blueprints of one house in Sunnydale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancing About Architecture

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime during the last half of S7. Title stolen shamelessly from the movie _Playing By Heart_.

  
_i. Basement_  
Buffy wakes him up at before dusk, usually, as the sun is starting to set behind the hills. Vampires don't really need that much sleep, they all know, but she tries to allow him as much rest as possible. They'll all be short of rest, eventually.

She never knows what to expect, during that minute as she descends the stairs to Spike's habitat. He's not chained, not anymore, but the manacles are still bolted to the wall, a reminder of responsibilities shirked.

Sometimes he's dreaming aloud when she gets there, muttering of fire and screams, of being trapped in a box, or of her.

She can tell, straight off, when he's dreaming about her. She wishes he wouldn't, because waking him from those dreams is the most awkward. There's a second, as he looks up at her, when dark passion fills his eyes, and she has to fight the habit of reciprocation.

When he's fully awake, the passion fades to a quiet longing, and she hates that moment even more.

_ii. Kitchen_  
Every Tuesday and Friday morning, Buffy buys a few quarts of pigs' blood from the butcher. It comes in heavy jars, and hidden in paper bags. She puts the jar in the back of the top shelf of the refrigerator.

After waking Spike, the two of them ascend to the kitchen. Spike pours a cup of blood for himself and warms it in the microwave. Buffy makes herself a cup of coffee, nibbles on pretzels while Spike drinks his meal.

After he eats, every Monday and Thursday, they take stock of the kitchen. Starting at opposite sides of the kitchen, they peer methodically into the fridge, the cabinets, and the pantry, and figure out what they're lacking, and what the girls seem to prefer.

Buffy scribbles it all down on a notepad, then she gives it to Willow, who calculates their budget before going to the grocery store.

_iii. Backyard_  
Throughout the day, and for most of the evening, there's always a group of potential slayers training in the backyard. A couple of them have taken self-defense classes in the past, and Kennedy claims to have a brown belt in tae kwon do. Buffy suspects it's not quite so dark, but even that would be better than nothing.

She tries to spend at least an hour outside, teaching the girls offensive moves that grocery-store-plaza senseis don't show to their pupils. She puts branches in their hands and demonstrates.

Stake. Disembowel. Behead.

If the sun's already set, Spike will join her as she teaches, offer a couple of brawling tips, or act as her opponent in sparring.

It's hard for the girls to understand how _fast_ a vampire actually is. Spike has to explain that, even though many monsters choose to fight like humans, they don't _have_ to.

It's like playing with food, he says without blinking. Half the fun is catching it.

_iv. Dining Room_  
Most of the girls left school when their call came. They were a little disappointed to find out that they couldn't abandon their studies entirely. Inspired by her new calling in student guidance, Buffy is adamant in requiring the girls to spend a couple of hours studying _something_ academic.

Aside from Giles, only Willow has any teaching experience, but they all try to contribute to the slayer study group. Dawn and Amanda bring their lesson plans from school, and the girls use those as templates, in addition to whatever subject they particularly want to pursue.

Willow tutors in biology, chemistry, and math, while Anya imparts her skewed, but comprehensive views on world history. Andrew is remarkably adept at physics and Spanish, but the girls find it difficult to take him seriously.

Spike's contribution is a surprise. One day, as the girls argue about a passage from Spenser's _Epithalamion_, he stands in the doorway and recites the following section. In the ensuing silence, he explains the definition of a word they had been confused about, and points out its correlation with the hours of the day.

Buffy hears it all as she sat in the kitchen, but she doesn't interrupt.

_v. Living Room_  
When Giles is continent-hopping, seeking out potential slayers, it falls to the former monsters to dole out lore and cautionary tales. Andrew's helpful in describing the local demons, having summoned many of them before, but for the real dirt, Anya and Spike are fountains of useful information. Not only do they know the names and descriptions of local demons, they know their habits, their weak spots, and their preferred brand of liquor.

When Buffy participates in the discussion, her responses are fairly simple.

Stake. Disembowel. Behead.

She doesn't always have time for the finer points of debate, but Spike and Anya usually agree with her assessments.

_vi. Bathroom_  
If Buffy and Spike happen to walk past the bathroom at the same time, their steps quicken, and they are careful not to look at each other.

_vii. Willow's Room_  
Every night, Buffy, Willow, and Xander meet in Willow's room to discuss strategy. If Giles is there, he'll join in, and once in a while, Spike will as well.

He doesn't usually have much to say, but Buffy finds it reassuring to have him there.

_viii. Dawn's Room_  
Dawn's adjusted to the invasion relatively well, but every once in a while, Dawn will lock herself in her room (and her roommates out), play the angriest music in her CD collection, and she won't come out.  
Aside from Xander, Spike's the only one who can talk Dawn out of a funk.

Night or day, whenever it happens, Buffy will clatter downstairs to wake Spike, and drag him to Dawn's door and plead that he fix things.

No one's sure how, but he does.

It might be the coaxing tone in his voice, or his promise to keep the potentials away from her for a few hours, or simply the fact that he bothers to talk to her at all.

Buffy's not sure how he does it.

She wishes it was something she could learn.

_ix. Buffy's Room_  
Buffy gets the least sleep out of all of them. She works part-time during the day, patrols at night, and trains the girls for the rest of the time.

When she starts swaying on her feet, and her English makes less sense than usual, Spike nods for someone else to take charge, and he'll escort her up the stairs and into her room.

Gently, as if she were still a child, he takes her shoes off and tucks her into bed. She protests feebly, but he hushes her easily.

He promises her that the world won't fall apart if she catches a few hours of shut-eye.

When he's sure that she won't climb out of bed and out the window, he exits the room silently and shuts her door.

Then, he sits on the staircase, his back to her door, and chases away anyone who dares approach.


End file.
